


Ten-Thousand Words (Which Wont See the Light of Day)

by Redrikki



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Family Feels, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Harm to Children, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 23:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1074338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are things they can't say.  There are things they wont say. There are actions which speak louder than words.  </p><p>A series of short stories about the ladies of <i>Legend of Korra</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Book One: All Things Being Equal

**Continuum** \- Katara

For her whole life, Katara’s gran-gran had been old. Gran-gran Kanna was hugs, chores and five spice soup with stewed sea prunes. She was as shriveled as a piece of seal jerky with swollen, arthritic hands and a smell like seaweed hand cream and old age. As far as Katara had been concerned, her gran-gran was as ancient and unchanging as a glacier and had always been that way.

Then Gran-gran gave her a hug and a bed roll and sent Katara out into the world. It was out there, hundreds of miles from home, that she really met Kanna for the first time. She was fierce, breaking tradition and braving a world at war to live life on her own terms. Kanna had made an epic journey, found (and lost) friends, loved a husband, raised two generations of children and never lost her hope for the future. At age fifteen, hugging her gran-gran for the first time in over a year, Katara wished she could be half the woman Kanna was.

Now, here Katara is, hugging the girl she loves like a granddaughter and sending her off into the world. Was this how her gran-gran had felt when she told Katara goodbye? Proud, sad and, above all, hopeful? Korra is going to be amazing, taking the world by storm and living life on her own terms. Her adventure is just beginning, but does that mean Katara’s is ending? Katara watches the girl ride off into the night and wishes her gran-gran was here. 

 

 **True Love** \- Asami

Asami didn’t turn on her father because of love. Actually, she did, just not in the way that most people think. She’s not some romantic cliche. She didn’t betray her father because Mako was hot and she wanted to have his little fire bending babies. Asami turned on Hiroshi because the man who urged her to join the Equalists and attack her friends was _not_ her dad. Her dad would never lie to her or use her like that. He wouldn’t smile while he hurt people or help blow up a stadium. And he would never, never warp the memory of her mother to justify working for terrorists. Hiroshi Sato _murdered_ her dad. Asami found it surprisingly easy to return the favor.

 

 **Hello, Storm** \- Ikki

Ikki has never been scared before, not really. She’s had nightmares, but she never remembers them when she wakes up and goes and snuggles with Mommy and Daddy or Jinora anyway. When she was little, thunder made her cry until Mommy told her it was just the storm spirits’ way of saying hello. She always shouts hello back now. There was nothing in Ikki’s life to be scared of, not when she had Mommy and Daddy and Jinora and Korra and the White Lotus and even Daddy’s ex-girlfriend Lin looking out for her. 

They’re not looking out for her now. Korra and her friends are gone. They left the White Lotus guards back on the island. The Equalists chased them from home and, even after everything Lin did to try to stop them, they’re gaining. Oogie’s giving it his all, but even he can’t out fly an airship. Daddy stands to meet them and Ikki and Jinora join him. Ikki’s hands shake on her staff, but she’s a big sister. She has to protect Meelo and the baby ‘cause that’s what big sisters do. Maybe if they all stand together they can fight the Equalists off. 

They can’t. Equalist gloves hurt a lot.

When Ikki wakes up there is an Equalist looming over her with a blank-faced mask and eyes that glow like a monster. She tries to get away, but she’s tied up so she can’t bend with a rag in her mouth so she can’t blow. Daddy’s and Jinora and Meelo are tied up too but she doesn’t see Mommy or the baby. Jinora and Meelo are crying and Ikki wants to cry too. Mommy’s gone and Ikki doesn’t know where she is or what’s happening to her. She whimpers when the Equalist reaches for her. Daddy tries to help her and he screams and twitches when they shock him again. Ikki’s not scared. She’s never been scared. She’s terrified. 

 

 **Reclamation** \- Lin

Almost half of Lin’s officers don’t come back to the force after the Equalists. Some of them can’t. They drowned in the harbor when their patrol boats sank or where crushed by exploding buildings and crashing air ships. RuiLan, her best detective, died from a heart attack after a shock from an Equalist glove. She wasn’t even a bender, just a dedicated woman who was good at her job.

Some officers simply _wont_ come back. Lin can forgive them, but she can’t understand them. The Equalists played her for a fool and took over her city. They publicly humiliated her and destroyed her reputation. Amon took her bending while she just knelt there. He reached inside her and cut her connection to the earth, blinding her, _violating_ her. Sometimes the memory of it hits her so hard she can’t breath until she touches the earth and feels it touch back. 

Lin let the Equalists take so much from her. They took friends and colleagues, her confidence and her ability to sleep through the night. They took so much but she’ll be damned if she lets them take this too. So what if some of her officers want to stay at home and keep feeling afraid? She is Chief Beifong and she is taking her job back.


	2. Book 2

**Go Speed Racer** \- Asami 

Everyone who’s ever raced her knows that Asami Sato doesn’t loose. Except, that’s all she’s been doing lately. Her father, her boyfriend, her family’s good name; they’re all gone. Her company is nearly bankrupt and, if she doesn’t act soon, Future Industries will be a thing of the past. If this were a race, now would be the time to give the competition an unfriendly little nudge and smile as she watched them spin out in her rearview mirror. Instead, she stares back into Varrick’s eyes and tries to project determination, not desperation. After all, she’s Asami Sato and she doesn’t loose. 

 

 **Lady Madonna** \- Pema 

They mean well, Pema tells herself as she accept their flowers and praise with an awkward smile. They don’t mean to make it sound like her womb and the children she pushed out of it are the only worthwhile things about her. They’re just excited to see the revival of a nearly extinct people. Pema is excited about it too; that’s why she became an Air Acolyte. The Air Nomad philosophies of peace and freedom give meaning to her life and help to bring balance to an often conflicted world, but she never worshiped Air Benders the way the Acolytes of the Southern Air Temple seem to. 

Pema’s smile grows tight and thin when one of the men asks her when they can expect another child. She overhears a group of women speculating about when Jinora will be old enough for babies of her own. They mean well, she reminds herself. It’s the only thing that keeps her from screaming. 

 

 **Flashback** \- Katara 

The smoke from their engines turns the snow black. Katara is eight years old, helpless and running for her father. In the house behind her, the scary man is murdering her mother. 

The smoke from their engines turns the snow black. Katara is fourteen, trapped in the North Pole as the Fire Nation fleet closes in. The whole city is tense, waiting for the blow. Warriors are sharpening their weapons. Healers are marshaling their bandages. There will be blood before all this is over but Katara wont be running. She’s not a kid anymore. She means to fight. 

There is no smoke from the invaders’ engines this time around. Katara is eight-four years old and she knows the feel of an occupied city. Unalaq’s men take the Southern palace like Fire Nation troops marching into Ba Sing Se. The whole South is a powder keg of angry muttering and rumors of plots. All it needs is a spark to set it off. Katara may be too old to fight this time around, but she’s not running either. The South is her home and she means to make a stand. 

 

 **Southern Belle** \- Senna 

“In the North, men are responsible for the actions of their wives,” Tonraq told her once when they were courting. 

“And are they responsible for their husbands?” 

“No,” he said with a chuckle that died in his throat at the look on Senna’s face. She didn’t have a temper, but she knew her mind.

Her grandmother had warned her about this sort of thing. Gran had been a girl when the Northerners sailed into the South as self-proclaimed saviors at the end of the war. They had sneered at everything from the simple huts to the way women smoked their fish. They had been arrogant and rude. _Stay away from Northern boys,_ Gran had said. _They will only try to control you._

“In the South, Senna said, “Marriage is a partnership. We are responsible for each other.” She looked searchingly into Tonraq’s eyes. How he handled this would make or break this relationship. “Are you Southern enough for that?”

“I am when I’m with you,” he promised, and kissed her. 

Twenty years later, when Tonraq suggests they attend a protest meeting, Senna bakes her famous kale cookies and gets out the good guest cushions instead. They are all Southerners in this together. Senna doesn’t want Unalaq dead, but she wants him gone as much as any man. Leave it to a Northern judge to find only _her_ innocent. 

 

 **War Machine** \- Zhu Li

Zhu Li does the thing. Varrick may be a genius, but he couldn’t put his own pants on without her and they both know it. She scrubs his feet, picks up his laundry, makes the tea he likes and gets him to meetings on time. Zhu Li manages their financial agreements with the South Seas pirates and arranges accidents at rival companies. 

Now Varrick wants a profitable little war and controlling interest in Future Industries. He’ll play politics and lay on the charm and, when that doesn’t work, well, then Zhu Li will do the thing and get it done. 

 

 **Art Imitates Life** \- Ginger

Anyone who remembers boring little Noa Jin could tell you that Ginger is as fake as her varri-dyed hair. Varrick would say that he made her, but Ginger made herself. She was carefully constructed out of fashion magazines and poses and pouts practiced in front of mirrors. Ginger is more than just a look though; she’s an attitude Noa Jin puts on along with her silk dressing gown each morning when she rolls out of bed. She clawed her way up from dance hall nobody to movers star using whoever and whatever means necessary. 

Now Varrick is going down, but Ginger isn’t going with him. Bolin tastes like stupid when she kisses him, but who cares? There’s nothing Ginger wont do to stay on top.


End file.
